Physical description

Gender

Height

Weight

Hair

Skin

Eyes

Alignment and character traits

Alignment

Affiliation(s)

Powers and abilities

Skills

Martial arts skills

Swordsmanship

Pilotage

Cooking

Mister Tanaka (タナカ,Tanaka?) is a character from the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics. He is a human who serves as the bulter and bodyguard of the Thorndyke family.[2] In his free time, he devotes himself to meditation and practicing martial arts.

Contents

Appearance

Tanaka is a tall man with Asian features. His skin is a pale yellow, his eyes are dark and his hair is smooth and black. For attire, he wears a black suit with a white shirt underneath, glasses, and a purple bow tie.

History

Anime

Past

As a young boy in his homeland of Japan, Tanaka would play around in the local mountains. Eventually, he discovered a Chao colony in the mountainous wilderness. However, he kept his discovery a secret.[3]

As he grew up, Tanaka would study at the Yamato University. There, he would attend Dr. Cadberry's classes.[2] In the end, Tanaka took a job as the bodyguard and personal butler of the Thorndyke family.

New World Saga

When Sonic and his friends began arriving at Thorndyke Mansion, Tanaka discovered them long before Ella did. However, he kept this secret to himself.[4]

On the morning after Chris met Sonic, Tanaka would serve his young master breakfast.[5] Some time later, Tanaka caught Chuck running around with Chris. While he let Chris go, he insisted that the elderly Chuck took it easy and forced him to go take a nap.[6] Tanaka would not long after receive a call from Nelson Thorndyke, saying that he and his wife would come home for a visit. Bringing this news to Chris, Tanaka and Ella grew suspicious when Chris did not seem happy about it. Regardless, Tanaka gladly welcomed Nelson and Lindsey back when they arrived. When Chris did not come home from school as planned however, Tanaka thought about going out to look for him, but Ella had him dismiss that thought. After Chris finally came home though, Takana was able to serve the Thorndyke family's dinner.[7]

When Lindsey was preparing for a party, Tanaka revealed to Chris and Cream when the former was scolding the latter that he knew that Sonic's friends were staying in the mansion. He promised, however, to keep a secret, as requested by Chris. During the party, Tanaka welcomed the guests - Mr. Stewart and Sam Speed. Unfortunately, Cream eventually revealed herself to those at the party. In order to not raise suspicions, Mr. Tanaka claimed he was practicing ventriloquism when Chris and Chuck claimed that Cream was but a toy. However, while Chris managed to mislead Sam and Steward, Ella was still confused. After the party, Tanaka and Chuck convinced Chris to tell Ella everything. This allowed her to keep the secret about Sonic and his friends too.[4] Some time after, Tanaka discovered the TV signal was gone, which was the result of Dr. Eggman's E-90 Super Sweeper sucking up satellites. Tanaka later took notice when Eggman's private television broadcast got interrupted by Sonic.[8]

Tanaka later escorted Chris when he traveled to Emerald Coast to oversee the opening of Hotel de Blanc there, while Sonic and his friends stayed at the Thorndykes' bungalow. When Eggman invaded the hotel grounds with his robots however, Tanaka took a stance to protect Chris, but was held back by Ella. Fortunately, Sonic and Amy soon showed up and drove Eggman off.[9] Tanaka was later teaching Sonic and his friends good table manners when Bokkun arrived with a message from Eggman, who alerted them to the appearance of a Chaos Emerald and challenged them to a game of baseball for it. Arriving at Diamond Stadium, Tanaka joined Sonic's team, who faced Eggman's team of E-21 Ballios. At the end of the game, Eggman fled with the Emerald, although the good show Tanaka and his friends put up allowed the decommissioned Diamond Stadium to remain in business.[10]

Not long after, Tanaka heard from Ella that she had kicked someone from the government off the Thorndyke Mansion's premise.[11]

Chaos Emerald Saga

When presidential aide Jerome Wise came to the Thorndyke Mansion to get Sonic for a meeting at the White House, Ella was unable to convince Wise and his accompanying agents to leave. As such, she summoned Tanaka, who forced the agents into leaving by overpowering them with his martial arts.[12] When the Egg Fort later attacked Station Square, Mr. Tanaka brought the X Tornado to the city center in a semi-truck to aid Sonic and his crew, destroying several E-33 Buballs which threatened Chris and his friends in the process. Thanks to his aid, Sonic and his friends were able to destroy the Egg Fort.[13]

After presenting Sonic and co. with their own official passports, Tanaka bid farewell to Chris, Sonic and their friends when they went on a vacation to the Sapphire Sea. Following the request Chuck however, Tanaka secretly followed them to ensure that Chris would stay safe. Arriving in the Sapphire Sea, Tanaka appeared with a large boat for Chris and his friends to use, just as they were battling Eggman's E-57 Clurken.[14] Later, at the behest of Nelson, Tanaka brought some senior citizens from the Silver Star Retirement Home on the cruise Chris and his friends were on so the senior citizens could teach the group of heroes how to relax. Chris insisted that they only asked for a lift to get the stir-crazy Sonic back to the mainland, but Tanaka insisted that Sonic, as a warrior, needed to learn how to relax between his battles.[15] After Chris and co. returned home, Tanaka and Ella would be woken in the middle of the night by an intruder on the Thorndyke property, only to discover that it was Sam Speed, who wanted to challenge Sonic to a race in his new Rocket Car. Tanaka subsequently observed the race between Sonic and Sam (after Sonic was "persuaded" to compete) as a spectator. In the end, Sonic won the race by a landslide.[16]

Later on, Tanaka took Chris, Frances, Danny, Tails, Amy, Cream, Sonic and Mr. Stewart on a field trip back to his homeland of Japan. After paying his respects to a warrior's monument upon his arrival, Tanaka went with the others to the campsite. There, Mr. Tanaka prepared a meal with Stewart and Amy's aid. After Cheese vanished down a nearby river, which prompted Chris and his friends to go look for Cheese, Tanaka assured a worried Amy that Chris and the others were fine while telling her about his childhood. When Mr. Stewart returned after losing track of Chris however, Tanaka and his group saw E-66 Da-Dai-Oh fly over their camp. Tanaka, Amy and Stewart thus located Sonic to warn him about Eggman's attack. Fortunately, the blue hedgehog managed to destroy the machine. At the end of the day, Mr. Tanaka found out that Chris and his friends had found the Chao colony that he discovered when he was a boy.[3]

Some time after, Tanaka was summoned to Filmdom City by Nelson, as part of a plan to surprise Lindsey on their wedding anniversary, and discovered that the wedding ring Nelson got Lindsey was actually a Chaos Emerald. When Nelson's plan fell apart and the Emerald began reacting violent with the other Emeralds in the vicinity, Tanaka was able to subdue it and suggest taking the Emerald somewhere safe before Lindsey got into an argument with Nelson over trying to ruin her latest movie. When Eggman then crashed the sound stage in the Egg Fort II and acquired Nelson's Emerald, he unleashed E-74 Weazo to attack the Thorndykes. Tanaka tried to confront the E-Series robot himself as part of his duty to protect the Thorndykes, but E-74 easily swatted him aside. Though Sonic and Knuckles took down E-74, Tanaka felt he had failed his duty and dishonored himself, but Chris and Lindsey assured Tanaka they were still proud of him and want him to remain as a member of their staff. Tanaka then took part in the celebration afterwards.[17]

On a day following Sonic's battle with Eggman's E-88 Lightning Bird, Mister Tanaka was going to the car, unaware that Sonic had gotten a microchip from E-88 stuck in his ear. When Tanaka used the car's remote control to unlock it, it activated the microchip and caused Sonic to run non-stop. After that, Tanaka helped Chuck and the gang in their efforts to catch Sonic, until the hedgehog got the chip out of him.[18] Mr. Tanaka, along with Chuck and Frances, later bid Sonic and his friends goodbye when they went to search for the last missing Chaos Emerald.[19]

Chaos Saga

After the destruction of the E-99 Eggsterminator, Sonic and his friends went their separate ways, leaving Tanaka with only Chris and Cream to look after. On one morning, six months after the fall of E-99, Tanaka would serve Chris and Cream breakfast.[20] A few days later, Tanaka saw Sonic and Tails take off in the X Tornado to rescue Amy from Dr. Eggman. He also assured the worried Chuck that Sonic and Tails had this crisis under control.[21] After Tails returned to the mansion with Amy, Tanaka saw a news report about an Eggman missile that had landed in Station Square and was set to explode. Fortunately, Tails showed up and disarmed the missile.[22]

Back in the Thorndyke Mansion some time later, Tanaka watched a news report with Tails and the others that detailed Tails' heroic efforts in stopping the missile. When Tails then needed to get unseen through a crow of grateful citizens outside the mansion, Tanaka and Ella helped the fox cub by disguising Tanaka like a baby that Ella was taking out for a walk, which distracted the crowd while they snuck Tails (who was hidden underneath Ella's apron) past them and to safety.[23]

When Perfect Chaos launched its flooding of Station Square, Mister Tanaka remained behind to wait for Chris at the mansion while Chuck, Ella, Cream, and Cheese evacuated, determined to save Chris from the flood waters if needed. After they left, Tanaka took a meditative state as he prepared for the worst. Despite this, he soon went to the city center with Chuck, Ella, Cream and Cheese. There, he helped gather the Chaos Emeralds that had been scattered by Chaos. Using the Emeralds' positive energy, Sonic transformed it into Super Sonic and neutralized Perfect Chaos, returning the creature to its base form. Tanaka then saw the now-peaceful Chaos depart with Tikal.[24]

Shadow Saga

With the Thorndyke Mansion in a sorry mess after Perfect Chaos's attack, Tanaka came along with Chris, Ella, Cream and Chuck as they moved to their temporary residence in the capital while the mansion underwent repairs.[25] Not long after however, Tanaka and his group saw a news report that showed who seemed to be Sonic as he stole a Chaos Emerald from the National Museum of Art, something which Tanaka refused to believe was true. Learning soon after that Sonic was in the downtown area, Tanaka went with Chris and Chuck to investigate it. There, they saw Sonic fighting Shadow the Hedgehog, an associate of Eggman and the one who stole the Emerald and had been posing as Sonic. After Shadow made his escape, Sonic got cornered by the police and G.U.N., whom he calmly surrendered to at the request of Chris and let himself get taken to Prison Island. Refusing to let him rot there, Tanaka and Chris traveled to Prison Island by boat in disguise while Amy and Tails headed there in the X Tornado.[26]

When they neared Prison Island, Tanaka and Chris used a swan boat to approach the island without raising suspicion. Once on dry land, they climbed the cliffs to reach the forest on the island. However, Tanaka had Chris stayed behind when a battle on the island began to unfold. Eventually, Tanaka met up with Tails, Amy and Sonic, but when he went to get Chris, Tanaka discovered that Chris had left on his own and began to look for him fanatically. Upon finding him however, Tanaka saw him get teleported away with Shadow. He was then picked up by Sonic and taken off Prison Island by his friends, just before Prison Island exploded due to explosives Eggman had planted earlier. After the explosion, Tanaka assumed Chris perished in the blasts and was deeply saddened.[27]

Learning later from a news report that Chris had to be alive and be with Shadow, Tanaka and the other started to look for the Eggman base where they suspected Eggman kept Chris. In the meantime, it was revealed that Eggman was residing on Space Colony ARK. Demonstrating the ARK's powerful Eclipse Cannon, the doctor demanded that they surrendered to the Eggman Empire within a day or he would fire the cannon at Earth. Tanaka and the gang subsequently teamed up with Knuckles, who had found a rocket in an Eggman base that they could use to reach the ARK. While trying to break into the base however, Bokkun would attack the group with the Egg Golem, who eventually took Topaz, who had been lurking around the base, hostage. Thanks to Tanaka distracting Bokkun however, the heroes got the Egg Golem's control away from Bokkun and sent the Egg Golem after the miniature robot. In the process, Tanaka saved Topaz when the Egg Golem dropped her. Tanaka subsequently went into space with Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles in Eggman's private space shuttle.[28] Making it on-board the ARK, Tanaka and the group look for Chris and a way to shut down the Eclipse Cannon until Eggman attacked, knocking out Tanaka and taking Amy hostage in the process. Awakening in time to see Sonic seemingly perish when he got ejected into space in a space capsule that exploded, Tanaka and Amy stood back while Tails defeated Eggman. However, Eggman still got away with the Chaos Emerald Tails had, which he needed to fully charge the Eclipse Cannon. Tanaka, much to his joy, soon after found Chris, while also learning that Sonic was still alive. After seeing the Eclipse Cannon get incapacitated by Sonic however, Tanaka and his friends witnessed Eggman's accidental activation of Prof. Gerald Robotnik's doomsday program, which Gerald had set up to get back at the world for the death of his granddaughter Maria.[29]

With the Space Colony ARK now on a collision course with Earth, which would destroy the planet, Tanaka and his group located Eggman and teamed up with him to stop the Space Colony ARK's descend. Tanaka, Chris and Amy stayed behind while the others headed for the space station's core to stop the ARK. There, they met Shadow, whom Chris tried to convince to help save the world. Shadow, who wanted revenge at mankind for Maria's death too, initially refused though and kept knocking back Chris, but Tanaka, knowing that this was something Chris had to do, made the tough decision to not interfere and held back Amy's attempt to stop them. Once Chris convinced Shadow to help though, Tanaka would watch over the unconscious Chris. After getting a brief visit from Super Sonic, who revitalized Chris, Tanaka saw Super Sonic and Super Shadow destroy the Final Lizard, whom was keeping the deactivated ARK on its collision course, before sending the ARK back into orbit with Chaos Control. Learning afterward that Shadow had seemingly perished from his attempt to save the world, Tanaka and the others headed home to Earth.[30]

Egg Moon Saga

Back at the mansion, Tanaka was there when a news report came on saying that Eggman had launched a missile toward the Moon. However, it turned out that he was fixing the Moon he had damaged with the Eclipse Cannon as an apology for the events regarding the ARK and his grandfather. Tanaka himself was amazed when he laid eyes on the new Egg Moon.[31]

Tanaka later joined everyone to celebrate the first sunrise of the New Year, only to find it ruined when the Egg Moon eclipsed the Sun. Eggman himself explained that the Egg Moon was malfunctioning and needed repairs, and offered his Sunshine Balls to compensate. Sonic, however, did not trust Eggman and began to destroy the Mirror Towers, which provided the Sunshine Balls with energy. Deprived of light, the residents of Station Square attacked the Thorndyke mansion in hopes of finding Sonic. Tanaka himself put himself at risk to defend Chuck, who got surrounded by a furious crowd.[32]

Eventually, the angry crowds broke into the mansion, seeking to retaliate against Tanaka and his friends. Although Amy provided a way out by using her hammer to break down a wall, Tanaka and the others soon faced another angry mob. Fortunately, Sam Speed and his Speed Team arrived, forcing the mob to disperse without further incident. When Sonic later revealed that Eggman was deliberately creating an eclipse with the Egg Moon, Tanaka offered to travel up to the Egg Moon with Knuckles, Rouge, and Topaz in a shuttle to deal with it. During the journey, Topaz commented on Tanaka's piloting skills. Once the heroes managed to destroy the receiver on the Egg Moon, thus ending the eclipse, Tanaka suggested he and Topaz should spend some time together.[33]

Emerl Saga

With Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe locked up in prison, Tanaka picked up the new vacuum cleaner that Ella had ordered. On the same day however, electronic equipment from Thorndyke Industries attacked the Thorndyke residence and the entire city of Station Square. Eventually, Tanaka and his allies discovered that the machines could be destroyed by flooding them with water. Access to it, however, was cut off. Mr. Tanaka, Chuck, Chris, and Lindsey, thus flew over the dam, with Nelson, Amy, and Tails joining them there. Together, the heroes unblocked the dam, which restored water to the city and enabled the heroes to destroy the rogue electronics.[34]

Some time later, Mr. Tanaka and Ella comforted Amy when she felt lonely and unloved. Tanaka was later made a participant in the Chaos Emerald Martial Arts Mash-Up tournament, whose main prize was a Chaos Emerald, by Nelson. During the early rounds, Tanaka faced off with Topaz, but won the match by winning Topaz's heart by giving her a beautiful necklace.[35] For the next round, Tanaka faced Emerl. Donning a samurai outfit, Tanaka attacked Emerl using a wooden sword, only for the robot to copy his technique and block his attack. Seeing Emerl's skills, Tanaka honorably surrendered just before he received the final blow.[36]

Homebound Saga

Eventually, Dr. Cadberry and Knuckles arrived at the Thorndyke mansion. Recognizing his old teacher, Tanaka was touched by his visit. It turned out that Cadberry needed help, as Dr. Eggman had stolen a map from him that revealed the location of the lost continent of Murasia. Tanaka and the heroes thus decided to sail out and reach the island that held the last remains of Murasia. However, before they could reach the island, Eggman attacked them in the Egg Battleship. Eggman then revealed that Murasia lay on top of a hotspot, which the doctor planned to use to trigger world-wide volcanic eruptions. As Eggman commenced with his attack, Sonic fell in the water. This prompted Chris to go after Sonic to save him. Overprotective, Tanaka tossed them a life ring, only to accidentally hit Chris and knock him out. Tanaka then tried to rescue them, but Ella and Cadberry stopped him. Thanks to the timely arrival of the GUN Fort V3 however, the heroes were saved from Eggman. Together, they managed to sink the Egg Battleship. However, Eggman and his robots managed to flee to Murasia.[37]

Landing on Murasia's island, Tanaka noticed Topaz get into an argument with the GUN Fort V3's crew. After she walked away, Chuck told Tanaka to follow her. Meeting with Topaz on the beach, Tanaka showed her his martial arts moves by breaking rocks. In the process, he uncovered a casket of Ermurasium, which he and Topaz brought to Cadberry. Mr. Tanaka spent his subsequent time with Topaz, until they had to leave the island and return home after thwarting Eggman's plans.[38]

Back at the Thorndyke mansion, Tanaka turned over in shock when he heard Decoe and Bocoe mention that he and Topaz were going to get married.[39] Later, Mr. Tanaka attended the grilling arrangement. During the arrangement, Tanaka notified Chuck about an important phone call from the government. It was soon after revealed that Sonic, his friends, and Eggman had to return to their world soon, or time would stop forever, something which Chris refused to believe. As Chris ran off in grief, Tanaka tried to follow him, but failed. Having no choice, he apologized to Chris' parents for his shortcoming. Fortunately for Tanaka, Chris soon returned home.[40]

Eventually, the day of parting came. On the outskirts of Station Square, a portal was set up, which would allow Sonic and his friends to return to their own world. Meeting up to say goodbye, Tanaka bid goodbye to Amy. Later, he consoled Topaz, who was crying over Rouge's departure. When only Sonic was left however, Chris shut down the portal.[41] After Chris then escaped with Sonic, Tanaka and Topaz tried to catch them, but lost them while searching through the woods. The next day, Mr. Tanaka and Ella stood by Chuck, who decided to tell Nelson and Lindsey where they had gone wrong while raising Chris. Eventually though, the Thorndyke family returned with their son, safe and sound.[42]

Post-Homebound Saga

For the next six years after the departure of Sonic and his friends, Tanaka would teach Chris martial arts.[43]

Archie Comics

Personality

Mr. Tanaka is calm, quiet and dedicated to his work. He similarly treats each member of the main Thorndyke family with great respect; in the case of Chris and Nelson, he refers to each of them as "Master". He cares very much for the well-being of Chris and his family, and will do anything to protect them, even if it means sacrificing his life. Sometimes, however, he can be a bit overzealous and nervous when things do not go as planned; whenever he feels that he has let the Throndykes down, he assumes he has shamed himself and does not deserve his job.

Very traditional when it comes to his native homeland's ways, Tanaka often acts like a real Japanese warrior, although the effects he achieve in such instances are more comical than threatening. The tone of his voice is very formal and moderate.

In the English dub, he speaks with a stereotypical Japanese accent.

Powers and abilities

Although usually used for comical effect, Mr. Tanaka is a competent fighter, capable of overwhelming several government agents at once.[12] As far hand-to-hand combat goes, Tanaka is skilled enough to shatter rocks using punches and kicks (although not without great discomfort).[38] To perfect his skills, he devotes himself to meditation.

In terms of swordsmanship, Tanaka is a practitioner of the "Shiten Batto Style".[44] This particular swordplay style focuses on the user jumping high into the air, for then down on the opponent sword-first.[36] In addition, Mr. Tanaka can pilot all kinds of different vehicles, such as off-road vehicles, boats, trucks or even space shuttles.[13][14][33]

Weapons

Mr. Tanaka owns a kendo sword (a wooden katana) that he uses in combat.[36] When not wielding that, he tends to use regular tools like swords.[37]

Relationships

Sonic the Hedgehog

Even though he is a good friend of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic holds him in low contempt and does not like it when he goes on adventures with him, believing that he is not useful. This may be because he usually hinders Sonic more than he helps when he tries to assist Sonic.

Topaz

During his adventures, Tanaka developed a romantic relationship with Topaz.

Enemies

Trivia

The French dub of Sonic X switches between the usual Tanaka name and "Édouard". It is likely that his name was intended to be completely localized in this language, but the translators may have been sloppy with their efforts.